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Digital Compass: Map Your Digital Growth
Digital Compass: Map Your Digital Growth
Content
This activity helps young people and youth workers explore their digital skills, motivations, and development paths using a simple self-assessment tool.
The Digital Compass worksheet is a one-page reflection tool with five powerful questions that guide users through an honest look at their digital abilities and future goals. By filling it out, you’ll map your current digital competences, define your motivation and aspirations, and identify opportunities for growth, collaboration, and action.
By completing this activity, you will:
- Reflect on your digital skills, interests, and learning needs.
- Identify opportunities for personal or professional development in the digital world.
- Create a mini action plan to continue learning and stay relevant in a fast-changing digital environment.
Get Inspired
The Digital Compass was developed as part of the “Global Youth Skills” playlist in the "Befriend the Machines" activity. The tool draws inspiration from the Institute for the Future, which highlights digital and technological literacy as one of the top 5 future competences. In a world driven by automation and innovation, knowing where you stand — and where you want to go — is the first step toward staying empowered and employable.
Use the Digital Compass as a reflective worksheet or turn it into a conversation starter in youth settings. Whether you're mapping your first steps into tech or considering your next big leap, this tool can ground your direction and boost your confidence. Try it out HERE.
Take action: activities for different roles
Explore the role-specific badges below to access tasks that guide self-reflection and digital growth:
- Young people can use the compass to assess their digital skills, discover new career paths, and explore learning opportunities in tech and digital fields.
- Youth workers can integrate the tool into 1-on-1 mentoring, digital literacy workshops, or career development activities.
- Youth organisations can use the compass to design strategic digital upskilling initiatives or support pathways for young people to thrive in the future of work.
Suggested follow up activities
- Create Your Digital Learning Plan: Turn your completed compass into a concrete plan using free tools like Trello, Notion, or a simple timeline. What’s your next step this week? This month? This year? How will you measure your success and who will you invite int your digigal journey with you?
- Organise a Digital Skills Exchange Day: Invite peers or mentors to share their digital skills — from video editing to AI tools — and match them with the needs identified in each other’s compass.
- Host a “Future of Work” Meetup: Use the five compass questions as guiding themes for discussion and workshops on careers, automation, and future job skills. Bring in experts or alumni to share insights.
Claim open badge recognition
After completing this activity, you can earn digital badges that recognise your progress in:
- Digital self-assessment and learning planning
- Awareness of future skills and digital career pathways
- Youth empowerment through self-reflection and intentional growth
Who created this resource?
This activity was created by Cities of Learning partners (Breakthrough foundation and TiPovej! Institute for creative society) as part of the “Global Youth Skills” playlist in the "Befriend the Machines" activity. It draws inspiration from the Institute for the Future, which highlights digital an highlighting digital readiness as a core skill for future generations.
The Digital Compass tool is designed to be accessible and empowering — a small but powerful step toward digital confidence and career clarity.
Next steps: Expand your digital skills self-assessment with key European frameworks DigComp, Digital Competence Framework for Youth Workers, and Digital Capacity Framework for Youth Work Organisations, that offer tasks and reflections tailored to each group to guide their digital development in practice. You can find them in the specially created "Developing digital competencies and capacities in youth work" activity.
Resources
Get activity badge
Digital Compass Explorer Get this badge
Awarded for completing the Digital Compass self-assessment and creating a basic action plan for developing digital competences. This badge recognises your initiative to reflect on your digital skills, motivations, and opportunities for growth.
Skills and experiences gained
This badge supports the development of:
- Digital literacy and awareness
- Self-reflection and goal setting
- Career planning and motivation
- Lifelong learning orientation
You have to finish 2 tasks to get the badge
Tasks
Task no.1
Evidence verified by: one activity organiser
Task no.2
Evidence verified by: one activity organiser
Reflect on your answers and identify 1 area you want to improve.
Task no.3
Evidence verified by: one activity organiser
Share your learning goal or plan with someone (mentor, peer, or youth worker) and collect their feedback on your learning/career action plan.
Organisers
Digital Youth Work Resource Hub
Awero not-for-profit organisation manages this platform and develops it together with leading educational organisations. The European Union's programme Erasmus+ granted co-funding for building the first version of this platform. Contact support@awero.org.
Platform
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